In the current highly competitive and cost-conscious television manufacturing environment, it is imperative to ensure that the last full measure of the functional capability of a lower-cost component is obtained before deciding to abandon it in favor of a more functional, but higher cost, component. Remote control units in particular are subject to such restrictions, especially when sold separately, due to their relatively low selling prices. This fact is especially important because microprocessors having many input/output (I/O) ports generally cost more than their counterparts having fewer I/O ports. A suitable controller for a remote control unit is the 68HC05K0 manufactured by Motorola Corp., Phoenix, Ariz. The 68HC05K0 is capable of addressing a keyboard matrix comprising sixteen keys. In some situations, however, sixteen keys are simply not enough, and it is felt that upgrading to a more expensive microprocessor capable of addressing extra keys is an undesirable solution because of the added cost involved.